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Professions 201: A Guide to Collecting Recipes
Finding recipes is the mark of a dedicated collector--beyond dutifully ticking off achievements and diligently doing tasks simply for points. You are solely responsible for setting your collecting pace; the freedom can be frustrating at times, but exhilarating when you've finished a subset of recipes and feel like you've solved part of a large jigsaw puzzle, hunting down recipes from obscure instances and reputations. It's fun to chase down patterns across Azeroth, when so many achievements and quests are now straightforward. Plus, you may even find generous twinks willing to tip hundreds of gold for obscure recipes!
I began to collect recipes seriously during the dog-days of ICC. I rolled a priest to learn inscription techniques and tailoring patterns, as well as a deathknight to learn most blacksmithing. I began to care more about enchanting on my rogue, finished up most engineering schematics on my warlock, and hoped for transmute discoveries again on my alt rogue. For obscure reasons, Jewelcrafting and Leatherworking have never held a particular charm--perhaps it's because I rolled these professions purely for raid benefits and blithely unlearned them to pick up Tailoring and Engineering mounts.
It's been over a year, and
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Vanity Roundup and Guides for 4.2
We've been enjoying the small additions as well as the major raid content in 4.2; here's an overview of some of the quirky items that didn't really fit anywhere else. We've also provided a practical guide to
Littlest Pet Shop
and
Mountain o' Mounts
if you've been trying to sort out the numerous options from our previous guides.
The Molten Front introduces 4 additional pets and two vanity items.
If you miss throwing bears from the dailies, check out
Hyjal Bear Cub
for . It is purchased from
Varlan Highbough
after completing
Calling the Ancients
. We made a video featuring
Mylune's Call
here
, also available from Varlan for --it's gorgeous and summons flowers and animals in your path.
Crimson Lasher
costs , available from
Ayla Shadowstorm
. It is obtainable only after completing
Filling the Moonwell
. Ayla also sells
Mushroom Chair
for . This chair is quite literally a mushroom chair—perfect for fishing.
Completing
Vigilance on Wings
10 times will award you
The 'Unbeatable?' Pterodactyl: BEATEN.
. and
Chirping Box
. Inside will be the other mini jouster you
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Leveling 201: A Guide to More Enjoyable Leveling
Leveling in Cataclysm is easy; but with all the additions, there's bound to be something surprising, whether you're a veteran or on your first alt. For better or for worse, Cataclysm has streamlined questing--but has also featured alternative ways to gain experience if questing becomes tedious on your 5th alt. Personally, I've leveled toons numerous ways: a rogue to 85 through questing on the first day of the xpac, a warlock in legacy epics through mining, a priest in full BoAs primarily through instances, a rogue strictly through herbalism, and a DK questing in half-BoAs. I've got a mage at 62 that's currently done a lot of LFD, but outpacing the quests for particular zones drives her crazy with the lore and consistent plot lines. I have friends that wait for Alterac Valley weekend for leveling, another that leveled a toon through LFD with 0 quests completed on purpose, and some insane guildmates that have leveled multiple toons through Archaeology in the hopes of getting an elusive epic (cough,
Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds
) for their mains. Big thanks to Psynister for his expert leveling advice!
Once you hit 85, all the new Justice Point gear, Molten Front dailies, and Firelands rep farming await, so let's highlight all the ways you can get th
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The Exalted: An Overview of all Reputations
Like achievement points and reputation rewards? 4.2 introduces a new raid-only reputation, the
Avengers of Hyjal
, as well as a slew of daily quests to boost reputation with
Guardians of Hyjal
. It's a crazy time in 4.2 with all the new things to do, but really, quest hubs and rep grinds are nothing new to the game.
The Exalted
is still a prestigious title to get, especially if you haven't been playing since vanilla, so we'll highlight the available factions and spotlight fun titles and vanity items you can get along the way. Blizzard has a history of putting in complex reputation hubs--Isle of Quel'Danas, Argent Tournament, so if you enjoy Hyjal dailies, these older hubs are worth checking out when the 4.2 dust settles. if you can't stand questing, you can zerg older instances in your level 85 epics. We've recently updated the information on some of our faction and currency pages, so now is a great time to check them out!
For personal achievements, there are a series of reputation-related ones:
Somebody Likes Me
5 Exalted Reputations
10 Exalted Reputations
15 Exalted Reputations
20 Exalted Reputations
25 Exalted Reputations
30 Exalted Reputations
35 Exalted Reputations
[achievement=1
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New Options in Firelands: A Guide to Gear in 4.2
Edit 7/6: Clarified info about tier as well as upgradable gear with Firestones. All VP items can be upgraded with Firestones--you 'use' the stone on an item. Source:
http://www.img-share.net/uploads/16388gmfirestones.jpg
Edit @ 7:00PM PST: Regular Firelands trash gives rep until 5999/6000 Friendly, with Molten Giants and Hounds giving small amounts of reputation beyond that. Can hit honored just on trash.
Edit @ 3:00PM PST: Bosses give 250 (275 with
Mr. Popularity
) rep; can get to friendly easily farming trash--this means Avengers capes are pretty easy to get.
Edit @ 2:00PM PST: Ashelia has confirmed that the new crafting recipes for boots and gloves drop from Firelands trash:
Screenshot
.
Firelands and 4.2 introduce a whole new set of epics; it's the easiest it's ever been to gear up. From raid epics to additional rep rewards, there's something for all playstyles. We've taken the basic framework of the 4.1 gear guide; this time we've skipped the blues and just compared the epics.
See how good the new loot is and also see what gear is easily obtainable before raiding right after the break!
This guide does not aim to provide a BiS set of heroic Firelands gear for e
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Mountain o' Mounts: A Guide to Collecting Mounts
Last week, we covered all pets in the game, in anticipation of
Littlest Pet Shop
. This week, we’ll do the same for mounts and outline some easy ways to collect 100. With the split opinions regarding the recent
Winged Guardian
, it's clear players care about their mounts.
Warcraft Mounts
offers detailed info on each mount, as well a way to track your mount collection. You can also use Wowhead's profiler to track which pets you've collected, and out of the remaining ones, which you're interested in still getting. Our friends at
WoW Insider
also have achievement-themed articles dedicated to obtaining mounts. We've provided some tips on how to acquire all the mounts, from the easy ones to the challenging ones, below. (Note: currency prices listed are the full non-discounted cost. Players Exalted with factions or benefitting from
may save gold on some mounts.) You can also get seven of these mounts from the
Satchel of Exotic Mysteries
, but it's a very small chance plus you have to be the right class/role in order to be eligible in the first place.
Here are all of the mount-related achievements thus far. There's nothing new added in for 4.2, but there will pro
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Littlest Pet Shop: A Guide to Vanity Pets
With new rewards for obtaining 100, 125, and 150 pets in 4.2, there’s been a lot of talk on how to get those few remaining elusive pets. Many players stopped after collecting 75, as there were no more incentives. Well, in 4.2 there are three new pet rewards as shown in
our video last week
, as well as several more from Firelands, so it’s time to start collecting again. (Edit: We've updated the guide for 4.3 and there are even more with the Darkmoon Faire.) Some pets are easily obtainable from questing, vendors, and achievements. Others may take some time and luck to farm up. We've got it all organized and covered for you though, so you should be able to get 150 pets easily!
Here’s a
complete list
of pet companions one can obtain. As you can see, there’s a good deal more than the 150 needed, but some are no longer obtainable or cost money from the Trading Card Game. You can keep track of pets on our very own Character Profiler;
Warcraft Pets
is also a great resource, as well as in-game addons like Collectinator.
Here'
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Shifty Hands: A Guide to Picking Pockets
Pick Pocket
, for the less-agile and uninitiated, is a unique ability allowing rogues in stealth to loot special items from hostile mobs without entering combat. If done sloppily, it can aggro mobs, annoy your party members, and make you look pretty clumsy. If done correctly (and with enough bag space), you can amass a collection of unique items, and if you’re lucky, some epics inside of a lockbox. There's a lot of mundane objects in the pockets of Azeroth, but one's trash is another's treasure--you might find something amusing like a trashy novel or loaded dice.
This is a guide using Wowhead's vast database to show you every fun item you can pickpocket in World of Warcraft. Either for vanity item collections or just to send your friend something fun, this list will help you rediscover Azeroth and more.
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Brand New Hairstyles on the 4.2 PTR
A number of races got additional hairstyles on the PTR this weekend! We’ve taken advantage of the race/faction changing-options to find out what exactly you can get on the PTR: we've got screenshots and names of all the available cosmetic options.
Of course, there’s been hairstyles on previous PTRs that weren’t implemented, but with so many additions, hopefully some will stay--these seem to be generating quite a buzz, so maybe it will even encourage Blizzard to add more. We'll keep updating if more customizations become available.
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Get Ready for WoW's 7th Anniversary: A Guide to Collecting Tabards
With
WoW's 8th Anniversary
datamined on the PTR, it’s time to give tabards another look. If this goes live, it appears that for this year’s anniversary you can transform the appearance of your tabard, possibly into ones you’ve previously obtained. And even if this goes the way of the dance studio, it’s still a good time to brush up on available tabard options with the new achievement
Thirty Tabards
in patch 4.1.
This guide is organized by tabards that were introduced in each expansion as well as the means for obtaining them. When changing factions, many tabards will convert accordingly as we’ve noted below. Also, if you destroy some tabards (PvP, BC reputation, select achievement rewards), they can be obtained again from
Tabard Vendors
in major cities. Some rare tabards cannot be replaced and we’ve noted them as such. Other common tabards for Wrath/Cataclysm are cheap and you can simply buy them back for a few silver from their respective quartermasters.
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Master Shapeshifters: A Guide to Character Disguises
Everyone’s favorite shapeshifting item is a Druid, hands down. But what if you want something a little more uncommon? Perhaps you’re looking for a fun disguise to use on boss-kill screenshots, or you’re just not that interested in trolls and would rather farm something else. How’s turning into a fish sound? A huge bug? A neon rock? Maybe you just want to be surrounded in a purple swirly shield instead? Whatever you’re interested in turning into, it probably exists in-game and we have it all laid out for you.
This guide breaks it down into playable race, creature, and object disguises, as well as items that give your character special effects. We’ve further organized these items by means of acquisition and noted some items that work while mounted or shapeshifted. Not all of these items will work in every zone, but they’re all interesting.
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Want an Amani Battle Bear? Tips and Tricks to Completing the Speed Run in 4.1
Itching for a new mount or sad you never got an
Amani War Bear
first time around? There's a new
Amani Battle Bear
in Zul'Aman and it can be yours if you follow these tips to shave off a few minutes when clearing the first four bosses and freeing their prisoners. We'll assume you've already acquainted yourself with the basic flow of the instance, either by running it several times this week, reading our
Dungeon Guide
for boss strats or were familiar from the BC version.
Anyway, here are our favorite tricks to beating the timer this early on. You'll only have 25 minutes to get this mount, so listen closely!
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Closing the Gap: A Guide to Gearing up in 4.1
Many players have alts, but are they geared? And how about your main, have you started raiding yet? Well, if your answer to either question was no, you're in luck. 4.1 introduces some additions that make the game more friendly and the gear gap smaller, from additional BoAs to changing valor point gains in heroics. Most importantly, 4.1 brings about the revamped 5-player dungeons Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman! The bosses from these dungeons drop ilvl 353 epic loot—potentially cutting out hours of farming heroics and doing dailies. But with so much new loot, what should you really keep an eye out for?
See how good the new loot is and also see what gear is easily obtainable before raiding right after the break!
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Dress for Luxurious Success: The Complete Guide to Gearing Your Bank Alt
The leveling dust has settled, you’ve begun to make gold again--it's the perfect time to spruce up your bank alt! Sure, you could go running around in starting zone gear, but it’s much more fun to play the Auction House in style. Show up for work dressed for luxurious success. From fishing rewards to wine glasses, we’ve highlighted the best of the offbeat items your low-level bank alt can equip. Whether you’re a veteran banker putting
Viznik Goldgrubber
to shame or a new player with an empty bank, retire your overdone
Tuxedo Jacket
and let everyone know that your bank alt appreciates the finer side of Azeroth.
Check out the coolest items for each slot, holiday rewards, special armor vendors, and some sample outfits after the break!
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